NO GREATER SIN

Evening Star, Issue 22681, 22 June 1937, Page 9

NO GREATER SIN

MAKING OF WAR " SABRE-RATTLING CHURCHMEN " DENOUNCED Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, June 21. “Sabre-rattling churchmen ” were denounced by the Rev. R. M. Lo Messurier, vicar of Holy Trinity Church, St. Pancras, in the course of an address to his congregation. Ho declared: “It most certainly is not the church’s business to bless guns, battleships, and bombing planes.” Referring to the Archbishop of York, bo continued : “It is horrible to see one of our own archbishops bemoaning the fact that recruiting is not proceeding fast enough. Modern tattoos, with their sentimental singing of ‘Abide With Me,’ show a prostitution of those finer feelings which could be used in the service of peace.” Mr Le Mcssurier also attacked Nazi Germany, remarking: “If a State said, ‘ Thou shalt commit adultery,’ in order to have plenty of men for the army, the issue for Christians would surely be plain. Yet this is being done in Germany to-day, ■where a woman with an illegitimate baby is allowed to take the honourable title of Mrs.” Mr Le Mcssurier, when interviewed, said; “ I spent three years in the ranks in wartime, not as a padre, and I know the beastliness inside out. I am convinced that there is no greater sin that man can commit than to make war.”